The Church 100 Years Later

The guns fell silent on the Western Front one hundred years ago, but the effects of World War I continue to be felt in the church today: [bold added]

(Image from Greenwich Village Society for
Historic Preservation)

By the early 1920s, churches on both sides of the Atlantic passed hundreds of resolutions renouncing war. Membership in peace societies exploded. In 1924 the Chicago Federation of Churches, representing 15 denominations, declared itself “unalterably opposed to war.” A nationwide poll found 60% of clergymen opposed any future war and nearly half vowed not to serve as wartime military chaplains.

The pacifist outlook culminated in the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact. Signatories, including the U.S., Germany, Japan and France, agreed to abandon war as a tool of national policy. Church leaders mobilized for passage. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty in 1929. The Christian Century, liberal Protestantism’s leading journal, opined: “Today international war was banished from civilization.”

The stark evil that promoted the genocide of "inferior" races forced liberal American denominations to suspend their anti-war advocacy during World War II, but the pacifism re-asserted itself overwhelmingly after Vietnam. (Your humble blogger has engaged in various discussions with clergy in my denomination who believe that the U.S. has not been justified in taking any military action in the last 40 years.)

While I personally disagree with such an absolutist position, I remain a member of the Episcopal Church. The reasons I don't choose a church more in line with my political beliefs is that 1) there's more to life than politics; 2) Because I can leave, I won't. Hooray for the First Amendment!